Rebecca and Sarah’s Business School Trip to London

As part of our commitment to customer service, Rebecca one of our Tour Consultants and Sarah C one of our Tour Planners, had the opportunity to travel to London to experience a typical day for a school trip. They got to shadow a school group on their business-focused ‘Fine Line’ session at St Paul’s Cathedral and eat at Planet Hollywood, as well as visit potential accommodation and the Bank of England. This opportunity gave them first-hand experience and invaluable knowledge as to what this educational experience is like for a school group.

Here is their account of the day:

"After arriving in London our first stop of the day was St Paul’s Cathedral. We had been invited by the educational team at the cathedral to shadow a school group on their business-focused ‘Fine Line’ session. The objective of the session was to consider how the cathedral strives to balance its competing demands as a place of worship and a business.

During the visit, the school group was split into two smaller groups and were taken on tours of the building with guides from the team. We each shadowed a tour and were interested to observe how the guides interwove information about the business side of the cathedral with its history and function as a place of worship.

Highlights included a visit to the cathedral gallery and hearing how film companies have used parts of the building to shoot films like Harry Potter and Mission Impossible. We would like to thank Flora and the team at St Paul’s for being so accommodating and enabling us to understand what the session would entail for our business school groups.

When we had initially arrived at St Paul’s it had been a lovely sunny day, but by the time we left the weather had taken a turn for the worse and it had begun to rain. However, we were fortunate enough to have a meal booked at Planet Hollywood and were soon welcomed into the warm and dry restaurant by their wonderful staff. Neither of us had been to Planet Hollywood before, so it was fantastic to get a sense of what our groups would be eating and experiencing when visiting for an evening meal: often before a show, due to the restaurant’s convenient location in London’s West End. We loved seeing the film memorabilia – Rebecca’s favourite was the original T-Birds jacket next to our table – and really enjoyed the hospitality and food served at the restaurant.

After lunch, we braved the rain once more to visit one of our popular hostels in London, the YHA St Paul’s. After being greeted by the staff, we were shown a selection of rooms that our groups would typically stay in, as well as the communal areas and the dining room. We were not only impressed by the hostel’s great location, but also by the facilities available in the rooms.

To finish off the day, we visited the nearby Bank of England Museum. Here, we particularly liked the balance between educational information and interactive elements.

We had the challenge of lifting a real 13kg bar of gold, a UV scanner to test the authenticity of money based on the key markers on each note, and a game designed to emulate regulating inflation for the overall good of the economy (more exciting than it sounds!).

Overall, our day was a really positive experience and a great opportunity to find out what our business groups might experience on a school trip to London!"

Inspired? Our selection of college and school trips to London are suitable for many subjects including Art & Design, Business & Economics, Performing Arts & Drama, Film & Media Studies, History & Politics as well as a general Cultural & Enrichment tour.

Give us a call and start your journey to London with European Study Tours today.